Device for improving heat transfer air flow



Feb. 7, 1967 R` B. JAcKo 3,302,697

DEVICE Fon IMPROVING HEAT TRANSFER AIR mow Filed Aug. 5, 1965 IN VliN'l OR.

ROBERT B, JCKU ATTORNEYS United States 3,302,697 DEVICE FOR IMPROVING HEAT TRANSFER AIR FLOW Robert B. Jacko, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, assignor to Collins Radio Company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a corporation of Iowa Filed Aug. 5, 1965, Ser. No. 477,485 1 Claim. (Cl. 165-80) This invention relates to a system for improving the cooling air flow across the components of electronic and electrical equipment.

Electronic equipment such as computers and radios which utilize a large number of current consuming components are well known to dissipate a substantial amount of heat while in operation. In order to further the life of the equipment it is therefore necessary to provide a means for removing the dissipated heat from the operating equipment. Many devices and systems useful in carrying out this function are presently available in the art today. Many of the available devices use a cooling fluid which, in many instances, is air. Because air and other fluids are subject to uneven flow, the prior art devices are frequently ineffective in properly cooling the electrical components. This is so because the flow of air is frequently not properly controlled causing some portions of the equipment to receive little or no effective cooling. Another problem with the prior art systems is their susceptibility to external fiuid disturbances. In the known systems each fluid stream is independent of all others and the path of a fluid st-ream to the exit is relatively short. This problem can be overcome by designing the system such that each fluid stream complements the others causing maximum utilization f the available kinetic energy. The length of a jet path can be increased by causing each air particle in the jet to follow a serpentile path as it approaches the exit. This invention realizes both of these advantages by locating the fluid inlets in a manner which causes the fiuid jets to combine their kinetic energy and to act upon one another such that the path of each becomes serpentine. As will become evident hereinafter, the fluid is admitted to the system through two fluid inlets each of which consists of a plurality of orifices which are uniformly spaced but which face each other in a staggered manner.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a system which supplies cooling air to electrical equipment in a uniform manner such that said equipment is more effectively and properly cooled.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a system in which the kinetic energy of each Huid jet is utilized to a maximum and in which each fluid jet follows a serpentine path.

Further objects, features and advantages of the invenl) tion will become apparent from the following description and claims when read in view of the accompanying drawings, in which like numbers indicate like parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 shows the inventive device with the top cover removed;

FIGURE 2 shows an end view of the inventive device.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 which shows a cooling air device 10, said device comprising a component mounting area 13 which it is desired to cool. Mounting 3,32,697 Patented Feb. 7, 1967 area 13 is contained in Walls 16, 17, and 18, and top cover 19 to substantially form a box having an air exit 15 at one end thereof. Walls 17 and 18 each contain an inlet means for admitting a fiuid to component area 13. The input means in wall 17 consists of a plurality of inlet orifices 11 which are equally spaced a distance a apart. The inlet means in wall 18 consists of a second plurality of inlet orifices 12 which are also spaced equally apart by a distance a. As best seen in FIGURE 2, the position of orifices 11 in side 17 is such that each of orifices 12 of side 18 lays midway between two of orifices 11-that is, when viewing the orifices along the plane of the component mounting area 13, orifices 11 and 12 are a/2 distance apart. This staggered relationship between orifices 11 and 12 causes the fluid entering each orifice 11 to coact with a fiuid entering the orifices 12 between which it lies. It is therefore evident that the fluid jet entering each orifice coacts with lthe fluid jet entering the neighboring orifices. This coaction causes the air to form a serpentine air flow pattern across component mounting area 13. These serpentine paths result in even, uniform air flow over the entire area 13 and therefore all components mounted thereon will receive equal cooling from the incoming air.

Although this invention has been described with respect to a particular embodiment thereof, it is not to be so limited, as changes and modifications may be made therein which are within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A heat transfer device for a fluid system comprising, an area over which fluid is to be passed, a first retaining means contiguous with said area, a second retaining means contiguous with said area and parallel to said first retaining means, a first plurality of equally spaced inlet orifices retained by said first retaining means, a second plurality of equally spaced inlet orifices retained by said second retaining means so that fluid entering said inlet orifices is directed toward said second inlet orifices and fluid entering said second inlet orifices is directed toward said first inlet orifices, the spacing between said first plurality of orifices being the same as the spacing between said second plurality of orifices, the orifice of each of said plurality of orifices aligned with the points which are equidistant between the orifices of the other plurality of said inlet orifices, a fiuid exit contiguous with said area and extending between said first and second retaining means, the plane of said exit being perpendicular to said retaining means, and enclosing means for forming an enclosed device containing said inlet orifices and said fluid exit thereby causing fluid entering said first and second inlet orifices to pass over said area in serpentine paths and out through said exit.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,912,624 1l/1959 Wagner 317-100 2,927,250 3/ 1960 Scharli 317-100 2,947,957 8/1960 Spindler 336-61 3,086,457 4/1963 Antonucci 317-100 X 3,212,424 10/1965 Davis 165-59 X ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner. A. W. DAVIS, Assistant Examiner. 

